This Week

The Rule of Five Quarterly #2 is available now. This volume contains episodes four, five, and six of the ongoing space opera serial that's revolutionizing the way science fiction stories are told.

Quarterly #1 is still available, and we've lowered the price by a dollar. Between the two, you can get completely caught up...until the next episode comes out on April 1.

Other Project(s):

I've finished proofreading A Cosmos of Many Mansions, and the cover is all ready to go. Actually, the biggest job left is to write the foreword. And that's all outlined.

Getting things together for Albacon. I have all my promo handouts, and now we're packing things. It should be a really fun and intellectually stimulating convention. If you're coming, please make sure to say hello.

Obligatory Cute Hamster Picture

Currently Reading

Thoughts

Putting out two ebooks in two weeks has reminded me that the publishing process has become exponentially easier over the years. No question, this is an enormous boost to self- and indie-publishers. It's never been easier to get books out there where readers can find them.

However, there's a downside of this ease, and that's abundance. I'm sure you've noticed that there's essentially an unlimited supply of good books out there. Any one author can easily get lost in the chaos.

The chief enemy of writers nowadays is obscurity. The best books in the world aren't worth much if they're not read.

One of the best ways to counter obscurity is through reader reviews. Not only do reviews help convince readers to get a book—many advertising sites won't accept a book unless it has a certain number of reviews (10 on Amazon is a common threshold).

You can see where this is going. When you like a book, the greatest thing you can do for the author is to leave a review. This is particularly true of indie authors. It's not hard for James Patterson to get reviews, but for folks at my end of the scale every single review is cause for celebration.

So I'm asking you to think of a few books you've liked—they don't have to be my books. Then go to Amazon.com and leave a review. Pick a number of stars between 1 and 5, check a box or two, write a sentence. It doesn't have to be anything momentous: say "I liked the suspense" or "Cool aliens" or "Fun."